La Vie Interieure
I am thinking about Maya Deren tonight, for some reason. I guess I saw her name somewhere and it reminded me of when I read her book "Horsemen of the Gods," in Graduate School. It was a good book, all about her research into Haitian voodoo (or Voudoun, as she calls it) culture and dance. She starts off studying the native dances, anyway, with some kind of grant from the Guggenheim, but eventually she plunges fully into the ceremonies and rituals of induced trance and spirit possesion. In fact, the last paragraph of the book describes her feelings of losing consciousness and sensing the approach of the Goddess of water, youth and beauty. It's a great ending, because one can't help but wonder what happened next. Did she have sex with everyone there, did she just dance around naked? What did she say? It's like you almost get to meet a Goddess, but then you wake up.
According to google she went on to become a Voudoun priestess, returned to live in Greenwich village, produced, directed, and acted in movies, had a job doing PR for a dance company, wrote more books, had three husbands and was generally a major influence on American 20th century art. Then, of course, like almost everyone I find interesting, she had a major drug habit, amphetamines and sleeping pills, this time.
What I wonder is this: was she lonely? Did it ever depress her she was poor? Maybe living in Greenwich village and being so busy with projects kept her from dragging. It says she hung out with Anais Nin, what did those two talk about, I wonder? I see them both meeting, air-kiss, air-kiss, sitting at some fashionable place like the Russian Tea Room, wrapped up in enormous wool/fur coats with some weird-but-chic hat/turban headwear framing their wan little faces, while they puff away at cigarettes and stare into the distance. No chit-chat for those two.
I wonder if Maya was as beautiful in real life as she is in pictures. I love the famous picture from her first movie, of her standing behind a window, looking dreamy and introspective.
Jean Cocteau, Leni Rufenstiehl, that woman who discovered x-rays, I am so fascinated by these people.
According to google she went on to become a Voudoun priestess, returned to live in Greenwich village, produced, directed, and acted in movies, had a job doing PR for a dance company, wrote more books, had three husbands and was generally a major influence on American 20th century art. Then, of course, like almost everyone I find interesting, she had a major drug habit, amphetamines and sleeping pills, this time.
What I wonder is this: was she lonely? Did it ever depress her she was poor? Maybe living in Greenwich village and being so busy with projects kept her from dragging. It says she hung out with Anais Nin, what did those two talk about, I wonder? I see them both meeting, air-kiss, air-kiss, sitting at some fashionable place like the Russian Tea Room, wrapped up in enormous wool/fur coats with some weird-but-chic hat/turban headwear framing their wan little faces, while they puff away at cigarettes and stare into the distance. No chit-chat for those two.
I wonder if Maya was as beautiful in real life as she is in pictures. I love the famous picture from her first movie, of her standing behind a window, looking dreamy and introspective.
Jean Cocteau, Leni Rufenstiehl, that woman who discovered x-rays, I am so fascinated by these people.
posted by zulhai | 11:17 PM
3 Comments:
I also find it that just about all of these famous people and celebrities that we idolize are all really wired in real life. That’s perhaps part of their personas and what’s made them who they are and somehow helped them get where they are. And of course drug is usually a big part of it too. For example, one of my friends had done a project on George Clooney’s house in LA. He had pigs, I guess as pets, on his property. Go figure!
So People magazine's Sexiest Man of the Year lives with swine?
I suspect a preponderance of misogynistic Y chromosomes in the selection process.
Hi Zulhai,
Two more questions. No, three! What did you study first and home come you wnet back to be a RN? Why do you refer to him as ur first husband? Did you remary? Are all three kids with him? Oh, one more pleaae. What kind of name is Zulhai? Is that you real name? You can email me at socalpersian@gmail.com, if you like.
Post a Comment
<< Home